1. Field
The present invention generally relates to sterile packaging and, in particular, packaging for adhesive surgical coverings.
2. Description of the Related Art
Adhesive dressings are commonly used to cover a wound or other break in the skin. One commonly available example is the adhesive bandage, used by almost everyone to cover cuts and scrapes, that is rectangular with a gauze pad in the middle and adhesive areas on each side. Adhesive dressings are available in a variety of sizes and configurations to allow application over a range of sizes of injury as well as to injuries located in difficult-to-cover areas such as knuckles and finger tips.
In hospitals, adhesive surgical covers are often used to protect an infusion site, i.e. the location where an infusion cannula penetrates the skin and enters a vein. As a patient may receive infusions for an extended period of time, it is important to protect the infusion site against contamination that would lead to an infection of the site. Infusion site covers often have a clear membrane with adhesive applied around the perimeter so that the infusion site itself is visible but is not in contact with the adhesive.
Adhesive covers and dressings are usually provided with one or more release sheets covering the adhesive portions to form a handleable dressing that is commonly sterile packaged between two sheets of paper that are bonded around the edge to form a sterile envelope. The handleable dressing is loose within the sterile envelope.